Wallace is the hometown hero after he accidentally dived on the football in the end zone during last year’s championship game. Normally, Wallace sat on the bench during most of the football game, but this game, he just happened to be at the right place at the right time. His best friend, Steve Cavanaugh, likes to think of himself as the best player on the team. When Wallace gets credit for winning the game, Steve becomes Wallace’s ex-best friend. The problem with Wallace is that he can’t tell a lie. He absolutely cannot tell a lie about anything and sometimes telling the truth gets him in more trouble. Prime example: Wallace has to write a book report about a book called Old Shep, May Pal. That may seem innocent enough except that Wallace hated the book. He wrote: Old Shep, My Pal by Zach Paris is the most boring book I’ve read in my entire life. I did not have a favorite character. I hated everybody equally. The most interesting part came on the last page where it said “The End.” This book couldn't be any lousier if it came with a letter bomb. I would not recommend it to my worst enemy. When Mr. Fogelman reads the review, he hits the ceiling and puts Wallace on detention until he writes a proper book report. As it happens, the detention is held in the gym where the drama team is rehearsing for their play. The title of the play? Old Shep, My Pal. Wallace refuses to write a review that he feels would be a pack of lies just to please Mr. Fogelman., so the detention stretches into weeks. Wallace has to endure the boring script since he refuses to rewrite the report. When one of the cast asks Wallace’s opinion on one of his lines, Wallace tells the truth like only Wallace can. The cast likes Wallace’s revision and starts asking for more much to Mr. Fogelman’s exasperation. In the mean time, the team and everybody else is upset with Wallace because while he serves detention, he can’t play football. Every one expects him to be the salvation of a losing team. No one believes him when he tells them that he is not the great player they think he is. When someone starts trying to sabotage the play by ruining the scenery, and dumping pepper on the cast during rehearsal, everyone blames Wallace. Will Wallace cave in and write the review the way Mr. Fogelman wants it or will he stay and ruin the play? And what about the football team? Will they turn their backs on Wallace too? To find the answers to these questions and more, read No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman.
Someone's making threatening phone calls to Jim. Jim's family is having a difficult time readjusting to normal life now that his father is out of prison. Football practice is the only time when Jim can forget his troubles. But even that turns sour when someone starts making anonymous phone calls suggesting Jim isn't welcome on the team. Jim is determined to find out who the caller is, but the puzzle seems insoluble. His schoolwork and playing being to go rapidly downhill until he finally comes up with a culprit...the last person he would have suspected!
Life in Indiana in 1840 is difficult; the country is in a depression, and Jessie's family can't afford to build a new house. Instead they live in a log cabin that Pa first built when the family came to Indiana from Pennsylvania. Jessie and Ma and Pa and Hannah had traveled down the river, although Jessie can't remember that trip, back in 1828-she'd been too little. But now she was thirteen, in eighth grade, and helping Ma do the midwifing, even though the town of Clifton has a doctor. Especially now, since there's a sickness in town. The doctor can't even cure it, and Jessie's classmates are getting sicker and sicker. Jesssie isn't too worried until little sister Katie gets sick. "You'll be okay," Jessie tells her-but they aren't supposed to use words like okay, or shut up. But it's not okay, and Ma tells Jessie that the sickness Katie has is diphtheria, a bad disease-lots of kids die from it. Ma has to trust Jessie with the biggest secret in her lifetime. It's not really 1840, it's-well, you'll have to read the book to find out what year it really is.
Bolita (Bo for short) and Kyle are not exactly in the same clique: She’s the shy girl working backstage at the school play, and he’s front and center as Time Zone High’s star quarterback. But then Kyle blows out his knee, quits football, and joins the school play—and Bo decides it’s time for a change.After a DIY makeover, Bo realizes she and Kyle aren’t in such different cliques anymore. Now that she has his attention...can Bo turn Kyle into more than a friend?
The Africans have a legend, which says that the child who can ride a white giraffe will have power over all the animals…. Orphaned by the terrible fire that claimed her home and her parents, Martine has been sent from England all the way to a wildlife reserve in South Africa to live with her only living relative---a grandmother she never knew existed, and who doesn’t seem at all pleased to be taking on the care of a granddaughter. Struggling to adjust to her new home, new school, and new life, Martine is determined to find answers to her questions: why had she never been told about her grandmother? How did her grandfather die? What special ‘gift’ did the African wise woman detect in her? And finally, the most fascinating questions of all--are the stories about a white giraffe really true?—and did she really see one outside her bedroom window? Join Martine, and delve into the mysteries of Sawubona Game Reserve---you’ll encounter amazing wildlife, ruthless poachers, friends and enemies in unexpected places, and just maybe….the White Giraffe.
Fights.Punches.Shoves.Arguments. This is how Doug and his older brother, Gordon, get along. Or rather, how they don’t get along. They are both teenagers, both boy scouts, and neither one knows how to like the other one. Each summer for the past 3 years, their family has traveled to a remote area in the Rocky Mountains for research. They camp so far back into backcountry that Doug and Gordon usually go the whole 3 weeks without seeing another human being. But on this trip, their mom’s brother is very ill and may die. If that happens, then their parents will fly out to Boston for the funeral. Doug and Gordon have already decided that they would stay at the campsite. Four days into the research, Doug and Gordon have a fight. Doug tells Gordon, “You know those envelopes you mailed our for Mom? About the Court of Honor? You know those stamps you promised to put on?Gordon glanced over quickly.“You know how you were complaining they were all stuck together? Well, that’s because I sprinkled pee on them and let them dry.”He made for an opening in the tent, but Gordon tackled him and the fight was on. And all the while Doug was yelling he was laughing, too. He didn’t even mind the punches. Got some in himself. Just the thought of Gordon licking those peed-on stamps was worth it.” After a week into the trip, Doug’s uncle died and his parents left, promising they would be back in no more than 4 days, but most likely in 2 days. Doug and Gordon have another fight, worse than any they’ve had before. Gordon packs up his stuff and leaves without saying anything about where he is going. Doug figures he has gone to a place he found their first year here, a place involving a climb up a mountain, past a narrow ledge. A ledge that cause a monster-size fear to envelope Doug when the family climbed it. He froze on the ledge, had trouble breathing, felt dizzy, and just couldn’t move. His father helped him back down, but he vowed he wouldn’t return. Four days later, Gordon hasn’t returned and Doug knows what he has to do. He has to face his fear place in order to search for his brother.
They’re all around you.The trendsetters like me, Hunter Braque. We participate on product focus groups, or “cool tastings” as my boss Mandy calls them. We tell clients whether their products and commercials are cool or uncool. Most people think they can spot cool but they really can’t. Most people are just consumers. What consumers think is cool is generally “so yesterday.” That is why I like being a trendsetter. Consumers depend on trendsetters to guide them to what is cool. Most people don’t see us. We don’t wear signs around our necks. Rather we work our magic from the shadows through the messages we help craft. Trendsetters are number two on the cool pyramid. On top are the innovators. Every new product has a beginning and an innovator. What every trendsetter wants to find is an innovator with the next big idea. But innovators can be hard to spot. There is often just one thing that sets them apart, one little thing that is revolutionary. I knew Jen was an innovator when I saw the shoelaces on her black runners. Are you an innovator, a trendsetter, or a consumer? Maybe you are not on the cool pyramid at all. Maybe you are one of the others. People who want to destroy this system. Most people think such groups don’t exist. But I know they do. They are called the Jammers, and they are all around you too. Their agenda is to make trendsetting obsolete. They want the cool system to become so yesterday. Jen and I have met them. This is that story.
Miranda is excited, and not just her, but everyone on the whole planet is excited. An asteroid is headed right for the moon and will hit on May 18th. The whole town is out in front of their houses with telescopes and binoculars. When it hits, everyone cheers, and then it gets deathly quiet. A woman screams and people start yelling. The moon was no longer a half-moon anymore. It was tilted and wrong and it started getting larger and larger until it was smack in the middle of the sky, way too big, way too visible. It was pushed out of its orbit and it wasn't benign anymore but terrifying and panic filled the air. Everyone rushed home to their phones and TV's. The cell phones were out and the telephone lines were erratic. TV reception also was fuzzy but finally came through and the news was horrible. There were reports of widespread tsunamis because of the tides. There was massive flooding all over the eastern seaboard. Tidal waves twenty feet or higher in New York City. All power was lost, and the Statue of Liberty was washed out to sea. Cape Cod was completely submerged and the barrier islands off the Carolina coast ... just gone. Casualties on the eastern seaboard are in the hundreds of thousands. The Pacific Coast is also affected. But those folks who were inland were safe. But that was day one, and just the beginning. Disaster after disaster, chaos and fear gripped the world. Electricity gone - climate changed, food gone, and no one, no one was safe anymore.
Wanted…Necessary…Unwanted… The annual Day of the Purge has arrived, the day when all the 13-year-olds of Quill will learn their ultimate fate. Identical twins Alex and Aaron have grown up together in this harsh, colorless, totalitarian society where creativity and emotion are forbidden, and strength and conformity are given highest honor. Motto: “Quill Prevails When the Strong Survive!” Aaron is labeled a Wanted, and sets out to begin his career in the military. Artistic Aaron, however, is deemed Unwanted, and is put on the bus to the Death Farm, to be burned in the Lake of Boiling -Oil. But a stunning and magical surprise awaits him when he enters the gates… Along with newfound joy and peace come many dangers, however. A gripping journey into dystopia!
Sidekick Rules:- Distract, don't engage- Let your superhero have the spotlight- Remember, the hero is the "cool, dark, mysterious" one; you're the "goofball"- Chant your superhero's catchphrase on cue (no matter how corny it is)- Wear your costume (even if it makes you look like a tool)Batman has Robin, Wonder Woman has Wonder Girl, and Phantom Justice has Bright Boy, a.k.a. Scott Hutchinson, an ordinary dude by day and a super-fast, super-strong sidekick by night, fighting loyally next to his hero...despite his doubts about the social benefits of wearing yellow tights. After an embarrassing incident involving said tights and the revelation that his lifelong nemesis, supervillain sidekick Monkeywrench, might be one of the most popular kids at school, Scott begins to question his role. How long can he stay on the sidelines and still hope to have a life?
In Ludania, everyone knows their place. Everyone knows to pledge allegiance to the Queen and to support her ordered public executions. Everyone knows when to keep their head down, because even acknowledging a member of a higher class in certain cases can warrant punishment by death. For most people, these are easy rules to follow, especially because classes are demarcated by which languages they are permitted to speak, but for Charlaina, it's not that simple. She has the ability to understand all languages but has been forced to keep this a secret for fear of endangering herself and her family. Charlie is managing to blend pretty well until she meets an alluringly mysterious boy who speaks in a language she's never heard before and another stranger who seems to know too much about her. Still concerned with keeping her secret and her family safe, Charlie lets herself be drawn into a deadly political struggle between the aging Queen and determined revolutionaries, not realizing that she might be the reason for this upheaval in the first place.
Even if people could cheat death, should they? Life and death collide in Cat Patrick's compelling new novel REVIVED.IT STARTED WITH A BUS CRASH.Daisy Appleby was a little girl when it happened, and she barely remembers the accident or being brought back to life. At that moment, though, she became one of the first subjects in a covert government program that tests a drug called Revive. Now fifteen, Daisy has died and been Revived five times. Each death means a new name, a new city, and a new identity. The only constant in Daisy's life is constant change.Then Daisy meets Matt and Audrey McKean, charismatic siblings who quickly become her first real friends. But if she's ever to have a normal life, Daisy must escape from an experiment that's much larger—and more sinister—than she ever imagined. From its striking first chapter to its emotionally charged ending, Cat Patrick's REVIVED is a riveting story about what happens when life and death collide.
